Punjab fails to pay even a single rupee for mid-day meal scheme in September
Tuesday, 01/10/2013
http://www.punjabnewsline.com/punjab/punjab-fails-to-pay-even-a-single-rupee-for-mid-day-meal-scheme-in-september/87649
CHANDIGARH: Punjab government has gone through the entire month of September without paying even a single rupee for the mid-day meal scheme, leaving school teachers to manage the meals for almost 22 lakh children on credit or from their own pockets.
Sources said that due to the current severe financial crunch in the state treasury, the education department has instructed government school teachers to manage the mid-day meal scheme on their own for the time-being till funds are made available. However, most of the teachers have not received their salaries for the month of August, thus making it extremely difficult for them to manage the meals. A teacher in Phagwara, on the condition of anonymity, said that the state government keeps diverting the mid-day meal funds received from the Centre to other departments. “It has become very difficult for us to arrange for meals for the children as we also have not received salaries for two months,” she said.
Sources in the know said that while the mid-day meal funds are supposed to be released in the beginning of each month, yet Punjab government has been delaying the funding by almost 45 days since the beginning of the scheme. In such a scenario, the teachers have no choice but to either manage the meals from their own pockets or seek credit from shopkeepers.
